it, while officers of the work force gave instructions to the workers. He saw Pirate being reported to by an officer and approached. Once they had finished they walked away from the crowd and down to the swollen lakefront.

"Yesterday evening I returned to my quarters and found one of my mares gone. I searched for her through the high winds and eventually found her exhausted at the bottom of a river gully. She was bleeding badly and laboured in her breathing - clearly she had been attacked," he explained, looking out across the water. The lake was over double it's usual size and growing, due to the increased flow of the rivers that made it.

"You're telling me that a member of our herd killed her?" Pirate asked, suspicious.

"Yes, it wasn't Van, she had bruising - not cuts. And I saw Ghost heading away from that direction on my way back to my meadow, and it turned out that she had left about ten minutes before my arrival. Not only that, but he had a sort of smug expression, like he had done something I didn't know about."

Pirate turned to face him squarely. "Are you suggesting that Ghost, a high ranking captain, killed her for no good reason?"

"Other than to get at me, yes."

"And why would he want to get at you, Spuro? I know you two have a history of fighting but this is rediculous."

"Sir, she had a young filly. She was dear to me and my friends. There was no need to kill her."

His leader stared at him straight in the eye for a few seconds, then turned away and looked across the water. A silence settled while he thought through the situation, until he said, "There's nothing I can do."

Spuro bit his tongue to stop himself from errupting with fury. The dunalino continued. "I'm cancelling the trials this year, Spuro, and that is going to cause uproar. Once this place is sorted out I'm calling a full scale attack ona  herd, every officer will take part as will every worthy private. They won't stand a chance against us. I'll call for you again once we're ready, but until then - rest up, train up and keep the rest of your mares safe."

For two months Pirate's plans we kept under wraps. The privates were still trained for the trials, unaware that they would instead be sent off to war if they prooved to be strong enough. The order was given for any who weren't suitable for the task were sent to the workforce before leaving, so Spuro had no choice but to enlist his three students.

While the workers toiled over rebuilding the territory, Sunset, James and Tay spread the word to the other members of the Resistance that the time to rise agaisnt the Band was near. Spuro spent a lot of his time planning how to take them by surprise, but he wouldn't be able to decide anything until he knew where he was attacking. But he would soon know that as a meeting was called for the captains.

Spuro took his usual spot near James and Nickle and listened carefully to his leader's words. "We're here for one reason - to discuss the attack of the final herd. This is a top secret meeting, boys, and I don't know how many of you will agree with what I have to say, but I can tell you that if you let this infromation slip you will be executed immeadiately.

"Yesterday Shot and his top scouts reported to me that there is a gigantic herd of horses to the north, just by the mountain range. They have many, many mares and that means many, many colts. There are only two stallions to watch out for - their leader, a sorrel, and an old buckskin. I want all the males destroyed. Some of the mares are old and frail, and I see no reason to keep them all alive, as they will just waste precious resources. Only the valuable ones will be spared.

"This herd has been a threat ever since they arrived eight years ago. They called themselves the Cimarron Herd after their last home." Spuro swallowed back the shock and horror. It felt like his heart was being stabbed and clawed inside his chest. His family, his friends - they wouldn't stand a chance against them. Even if he could somehow warn them all it wouldn't be enough. The battle was truely on.

"We will simply have to attack with full force," Pirate continued, "Spuro, you enlist every stallion that is good enough to serve here, there is no limit. Nickle, you do the same, there's going to be a lot of mares to round up on this one. We will arrange the units along the planes in three rows: on the front line there will be me, Ghost and the elite fighters. Behind us, Spuro and James will lead the attackers, and following them will be the defences along with Nickle.

"Once the herd is defeated, the mares are to be rounded up in a secure location where they won't require much guarding, maybe only three horses. Then the captains and warriors will set about getting rid of the officers and privates, leaving every mare ever stolen by us to the captains and elite forces. This is why you are to be vowed to silence before leaving - it would cause a revolution."

The captains looked among each other, searching for any sign of defiance. All of them agreed to the silence and left without another word. Of course, Spuro went straight to his quarters to discuss it with James, Nickle, the privates and the mares.

"We have to fight," he said, causing a chatter filled with fear and disagreement.

"And all be killed? You're out of your mind, Spuro," James replied, summing up what the others were thinking.

"It isn't just because it's my family, if you were wondering that, it's because every mare that has got out of here went straight there. If we do nothing, they will be captured again and split between the captains and warriors, and few of the others are what a mare would expect. They're brutish, pushy stallions with no intention of granting them freedom.

"We can still lie low until the attack," he continued, whispering, "James and Nickle, you spread the word though our horses and I'll let Sunset and the others know. This is to be kept a secret - our very lives depend on that. The officers will agree to fight straight away if they are told that they will be killed anyway if they don't, but if anyone outside the Resistance knows about the plan it'll spread like wild fire and the attack will be merely postponed, with further security next time. We have to get this right first time around, and the attack is planned for next week."

So the three captains sent the information forward and began training their horses for battle. Every day Spuro woke up with a sickening feeling of anxiety, not knowing if today would be the day he was to be arrested for treason. With only two days to go until the war, he began to relax, certain that it was all going to work out as he had hoped.

In the early morning he woke with a start when two officers dragged him off the ground by his mane. They clamped him between them and ordered him along, pushing his head down every time he lifted it to look around or ask a question.

They were leading him to the centre, and Tay, Copper and Zav followed, fearful of their tutor's safety. Before the Counsil there was a mob of the entire herd chanting, "Death! Death! Death!" The chestnut was thrown to the dry ground where he was told to kneel. Gazing up, Spuro could see Pirate standing on his usual plinth, this time with Ghost and Shot at his sides.

"Spuro, Captain of Offensive Units," Pirate announced, bringing the Centre to a hush, "you are charged with treachery against the Band, plotting aginst the aurthorities and planning to take them over. Do you deny it?"

"Of course I do!" he coughed, standing up and throwing an officer away when he ran over to pin him down again. "I will stand here tall and proud because I have done nothing wrong."

"Ghost," Pirate said, smiling.

The champagne dun stepped foraward to give his report. Spuro accepted with a shuddering sigh that he was on trial, and it would be difficult to escape. He looked back at the crowd who were booing him and shreiking their own punishments for him, but between the rearing legs and wide open mouths he could see three horses who stood there silently, ears down at both sides, supporting him. Spuro decided that if it was the last time he would see his three students, he was glad it was that way. He gave a nod, then turned away for the last time.

"Three nights ago we caught a stallion - an associate of Spuro - spreading plans to destroy the Band. He was captured, interrogated and punished. We found out a great deal from him; how this traitor has been against us all for almost three years, in league with the scum known as Bent; how he helped the missing mares - your missing mares - escape; and finally, how he wishes to take over the Band himself by murdering our leader under the cover of battle. Who would betray you Spuro? Who would give your life away to save their's?"

Spuro couldn't answer. His legs were shaking, his throat was dry and he trembled in fear. But nothing could have prepared him for laying eyes on his betrayer. Shot stood aside, revealing an exhausted, beaten and terribly weak Nickle.

"I'm sorry, Spuro," he croaked, "I tried, but they broke me."

He shook his head. "That proves nothing, he told you what you wanted to hear to spare his life."

"A second witness and follower of this traitor is none other than one of the mares. True, she had no power, but she gave ideas to their plans and introduced the rest of Spuro's mares to their beliefs! I talk none other than Celestia."

"You did kill